Cerberus Ships
Cerberus ships are hostile, NPC controlled ships that maneuver towards and attack player-controlled ships in the same sector. They can be found while revealing sectors in your home Yellow Star, White Stars, Blue Stars, and (mostly) on Red Star Missions. AU=Astronomical unit DPS=Damage per second Sentinel Sentinels have weak hulls but are equipped with a very powerful Battery. They pose little threat individually, but are deadly in large numbers or when covered behind stronger Cerberus ships. Sentinels will always stay within their assigned sector. Sentinels are the first type of Cerberus ships encountered in game. These ships mostly appear in ones and twos in Level 1-2 Red Star Missions, but they will spawn in much greater numbers later on. Also, when strategically positioned behind other Cerberus ships, multiple Sentinels are dangerous to Battleships mounting only single-target weapons, like Battery or Laser. Strategy must be used, especially later in-game, when dealing with these ships. In RS6+, Rockets, Dual Laser or Mass Battery can help deal with large swarms of Sentinels. Also, the Cerberus Phoenix, encountered in RS8 and above, spawns 3 Sentinels when destroyed. Guardian A strong ship that Cerberus often use to provide cover for Sentinels. Guardians always stay within their assigned sector. Guardians are stronger (in terms of hull) to Sentinels, but possess a much weaker battery. Alone these ships are not a problem, but when there are Sentinels hiding behind them, this can increase the danger exponentially. The problem is their toughness, they are well suited to taking hits for Sentinels, which can whittle down the health of the player’s Battleships. Use strategy or multi-target weapons to clear out the Sentinels first if you can. Interceptor A fast and powerful Cerberus ship that can simultaneously fire against 4 enemy ships. The Interceptor will become Activated when an enemy ship enters its assigned sector. Once Activated, it will hunt down enemy ships across all sectors, making it very dangerous against non-combat ships. In public Red Stars , the interceptor will only hunt down and engage the ships of the player that activated it, and will ignore other players' non-combat ships (including not firing at them if within weapons range), unless engaged by another player. The Interceptor, introduced at Red Star Level 4, is a dangerous ship that is different from every other Cerberus craft encountered in previous Red Stars. An Interceptor is equipped with Mass Battery 5, which allows it to simultaneously fire at up to 4 targets: this makes it difficult to target with Alpha and Delta rockets. It travels significantly faster than any friendly ships, including the Battleship. Most importantly, and Activated interceptor does not stay within its assigned sector. The Interceptor will only become Activated once a player's ship has entered its assigned sector. It can also become Activated if targeted by a Rocket. Non-combat ships can activate Interceptors. Once it has become Activated, it will begin to chase down all ships in the Red Star, prioritizing the closest ship of the Activating player, including support ships. In ''Public ''Red Stars, non-combat ships that do not belong to the Activating player will not be fired upon; this rule will be broken by engaging the Interceptor. Note that the closest ship may not be the same ship that triggered the Interceptor. Colossus A massive Cerberus ship that requires a lot of firepower and coordination to bring down. This ship always stays within its assigned sector. The Colossus, introduced in Red Star 5, is a large, dangerous ship which behaves much like a Guardian in terms of its course plotting when reacting to a player entering its sector. The plotted course will usually result in the Colossus being closer to the entry point of the player's ships when compared to the plotted course of another ship, such as a Sentinel. Unlike previous Cerberus ships, the Colossus is both extremely strong and has a lot of firepower. It possesses the second highest Hull Strength and Shield Strength of all Cerberus ships, and possesses a level 1 Laser which can shred through the shield and hull of a Battleship in no time. A Colossus is best taken on with 3 Battleships with either EMP or high level shields and weapons, but it is still possible to defeat one using two Battleships. First encountered in Red Star 5, the Cerberus Colossus can be an intimidating new opponent, especially to players with only 2 Battleships or lower-levelled modules. Defeating a Colossus requires co-ordination with other players, if possible, and lots of micromanagement. A nice way of dealing with them without losing too much health on a Battleship is to attack in a group of three. Once a ship takes around half it's shield's worth of damage, move it away out of range of the Colossus, then have it return once the Colossus retargets. This cycles fresh ships and shields to face the heat of a Colossus's laser, retaining the hull of your ships and balancing the damage taken. The high hull strength and Salvage module also means that it's typically a good idea to clear out other Cerberus forces if possible before focusing on the Colossus. Due to the high hit points of a Colossus, a powerful, single-target weapon like Laser or Battery helps a lot with peeling down its shield and hull. Other modules such as Suppress, Stealth and Fortify that can interrupt the laser or force the Colossus to change targets can also be useful against a lone Colossus. Both experienced players and those willing to take high risks may wish to merely distract the Colossus with their Battleships rather than defeating them, since it can take at least 3 minutes to kill a Colossus with 3 Battleships. While not recommended for support ships without Sanctuary, this strategy can save time when retrieving artifacts from higher level Red Stars. For experience against these brutes, it is recommended to conduct private Red Star missions, to familiarise yourself against these ships. Also, having a more experienced Corporation member come with you is a great way to defeat these ships and learn some tactics. A single Colossus is tough, but is no match against 6 or more Battleships in close formation. Destroyer These mysterious Cerberus ships are known to jump in Red Stars and destroy entire planets with their powerful beams. They do not directly fire on your ships. Appears in Red Star 6+. Destroyers always jump into the system from within the same sector of the Red Star itself. Destroyers always jump into the system within the first minute, usually right away. Destroyers cannot attack players, but can still really mess things up by destroying a planet. It is usually suggested to take these out as soon as possible. They now have Vengeance installed and do 4000 damage when destroyed. Bomber Appearing in RS7+, the Bomber is a strong ship that regularly fires one rocket towards each participating player that has ships in the bomber's sector or any adjacent sectors. This ship will always stay within its assigned sector, but the rockets can be fired in adjacent sectors. It avoids combat, meaning it will travel to the furthest asteroid away from the point of entry of a players ship, and react to any further movement for the entire continuum of the engagement. These ships can be especially dangerous if placed in adjacent sectors to each other. Best to engage with Barrier in order to not only temporarily stun the rockets fired by these ships, but to keep them in your weapons range as well. A lot of coordination is required to face off these ships, its recommended to engage their sectors in duos. Phoenix Surrounded by Sentinels, with dual lasers, more armor than a Colossus and an area shield, this nightmare of a ship is best avoided for all but the strongest players. Appearing in RS8+, it also spawns 3 Sentinels when destroyed, earning its namesake. While the Phoenix will always stay within its sector, its area shield is large enough to spill over into adjacent sectors. Because it usually patrols the sector edge closest to the player this can complicate the clearing of adjacent sectors since the area shield will protect any Cerberus ship within its radius. Take down its area shield with a combination of EMP, rockets and dual laser and you might be able to survive until its hull armor is depleted. Cerberus Bases Cerberus Bases are hostile, immobile units that can be found from new sectors in yellow stars. All Cerberus bases will continuously spawn and replenish one Cerberus Guardian daily. Do not attempt to approach before building a sizeable combat fleet. Destroy the Weak Cerberus Bases using a fly-by tactic. Move your Battleships in such a way that they can target the Base with their weapons, but are still out of range. Weak Cerberus Base Cerberus Base Strong Cerberus Base Category:Cerberus Ships Category:Sentinel Category:Guardian Category:Colossus Category:Interceptor Category:Destroyer Category:Cerberus Bases